演講資訊

摘要：

Over 12 years in space, the European spacecraft Rosetta has visited several asteroids and planets, and orbited around a comet for more than 2 years. Comets are fascinating objects, believed to represent the missing link between dust and planets. They may very well be the source of water and even life on Earth. Before Rosetta, 5 comets had been observed by space missions, which revealed strange worlds, although quite similar one to another. In August 2014, this vision changed when Rosetta became the first spacecraft to orbit a comet nucleus. High resolution images revealed an alien world, with a dramatic landscape unlike any observed before. This lecture will present shortly the mission and its journey, and review some of the major findings of Rosetta which enriched our understanding of the early Solar System. We will discuss also some of the mysteries and new questions raised by the mission, and what future studies may tell us.